If you're a fan of action, Event #51 of this MicroMillions series was custom-made for you. Sporting an Ante Up, 2x-Turbo structure, it featured five-minute levels, unlimited rebuys for the first 12 levels of play, and escalating antes with blinds that stayed 5 chips apiece for the entire tournament. Although who knows, maybe you don't like action at all. Times change and so do players' tastes. But if the numbers in this event are anything to go by, action is just as popular as ever: 12,686 players combined for 29,766 re-buys and 7,054 add-ons in a single hour to build a total prize pool of $99,012.

All those extra chips in play extended the length of the tournament a bit, but the turbo structure caught up and reduced the field to 10 players within about six hours. At that point two players would be knocked out simultaneously on the bubble, leaving us with an eight-handed final table. On Table 516, Germany's Hangman_1966 moved all-in for 7.27M over the top of an opening raise to 3.57M by fellow German Ricks1687, who called with 9♣9♥ and plenty of chips left behind. Hangman_1966 held A♠T♥ but couldn't pair up on the 4♣4♠3♥7♣K♦ board.

Meanwhile, on Table 335, it was another German player who opened the betting for 1.07M. freddy spitz came in for that raise from the small blind and Russia's Hero239 was the only caller in the big blind to see a flop of 3♠Q♣5♠. freddy spitz check-called a 2.04M bet with just 5.42M left behind and then check-called again for the rest of it on the 5♥ river. The German showed 8♣8♠ but had been out-flopped by Hero239's Q♥J♥. The J♣ on the river gave Hero239 the 19.59M-chip pot and was the end of the line for freddy spitz.

For starting with the shorter stack, Hangman_1966 finished in 10th place ($396.04), while freddy spitz earned final-table money in 9th place ($618.82) without actually playing a hand there. And with that, these eight players moved on:

With a 600K ante on every hand the short stacks had no time to waste. Russia's dpjg was fortunate enough to pick up A♥A♦ on Hand #2 and called all-in for 4.32M after limping in and letting Ricks1687 raise with K♣J♣. Once the 7♥4♥4♣7♣K♥ board had rolled out, dpgj had some breathing room with 13.45M chips.

Fellow Russian xBAPBAPx wasn't so fortunate on Hand #5. After jamming for 8.9M with 4♠4♣, xBAPBAPx watched Hero239 call with J♣J♠ and the board board come 3♦9♥Q♣K♥8♦. The fours were no good and xBAPBAPx was the first casualty of the final table in 8th place ($990.12).

The next hand saw jacks against fours again, this time with short-stacked Belgian player patje199 holding J♣J♠ against Estonian player K0LM_NELI's 4♠4♥. The result was the same as before on the 2♦8♦Q♥5♣3♣ board and patje199 won the 8.63M-chip pot. Three hands later patje199 was able to do it again. This time the Estonian player called a pre-flop raise to 2.21M with A♠T♥ and shoved for 4.62M on the K♦T♦K♣ flop. Ricks1687 called with J♠9♠ and lost out on the 17.87M-chip pot when the 8♠ turn and 8♥ river didn't complete the straight draw.

The short-stacked player who departed ended up being Mexico's terkoP., who moved all-in for 5.9M in the cutoff seat on Hand #11 holding A♥4♥ and was called from the big blind by Hero239, who held A♠7♦. The T♣6♥6♠7♣Q♣ was bone-dry for terkoP., who left in 7th place ($1,980.24).

Hero239's quest

With just 11 hands completed at the final table, the chip stacks had shifted significantly:

The antes were now up to 700K each hand, keeping the pressure on basically everyone at the table but K0LM_NELI in particular.The Estonian got a reprieve on Hand #16 after moving all-in for 2.36M K♥6♠ and being called by chip leader Hero239 with 3♣2♥, but even stacking up to 9.13M wasn't a lot of help. Hand #17 saw the Estonian move all-in under the gun with J♦T♥, and once again Hero239 was the lone caller. The Russian held K♣Q♣, which stayed ahead through the 8♣Q♠J♠5♦2♦ board to knock K0LM_NELI out in 6th place ($2,970.36).

Hero239 would win the pot on Hand #18 as well, moving up to just shy of 90M while everyone else held 18.96M or less:

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The Russian player kept the roll going on Hand #21, opening for 2.11M under the gun with K♣8♣ and calling when patje199 moved in for 9.27M with A♥Q♠. The board came down 7♠8♥J♥7♣T♠, stacking Hero239 up to 98.9M chips and sending patje199 to the rail in 5th place ($3,960.48).

Ricks1687 rolls

Hero239's streak of winning decisive pots finally broke on Hand #23. The Russian opened for 2.04M on the button with 9♠9♦ and called when Ricks1687 moved in for 16.89M. The German player's A♥J♦ paired on the J♣K♥2♠ flop and chipped up to 36.9M after the T♦ turn and K♠ river.

The pace of play finally slowed down at that point, with no pot worth more than 9.24M and nobody being called after moving all-in. That changed on Hand #40 after Ricks1687 opened for 2.78M on the button and dpgj called in the big blind to take a flop of J♥5♣4♥. dpgj checked, Ricks1687 bet 1.16M, and dpgj check-raised to 3.17M with 11.83M left behind. A minimum three-bet to 5.18M convinced dpgj to let go, giving Ricks1687 the 15.91M-chip pot.

dpgj won another pot worth 9.68M from Ricks1687 on Hand #42 before doubling up on Hand #46 thanks to a friendly flop:

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The very next hand saw short-stacked pioter5 of Poland take a stand, moving all-in for 9.6M with 1M already in the pot from the ante and 2♣2♥ in hand. Hero239 made the trivial call in the big blind with A♠7♣ and hit top pair on the A♣9♦9♥ flop. The T♥ [turn and Q♥ river were no help and pioter5 left in 4th place ($4.950.60).

A deal and the endgame

There was once again a large disparity between Hero239's stack and those of the rest of the table:

The Russian player won four of the next five points to stack up to 115M, while dpgj (24.6M) and Ricks1687 (14.85M) languished with the antes up to 1.25M. The three decided to look at numbers for a deal and came to an agreement that distributed the remaining money by chip stack and left $1,000 on the table for the winner.

With the deal in place, the action sped back up. After all three players limped to see the 5♣7♣4♦ flop on Hand #55, dpgj opened the betting for 2.06M with K♣3♣ and then moved over the top for a chance to knock out Ricks1687 when the German player raised to 4.12M. Ricks1687 called all-in for 14.85M with 8♦7♠, which held up as the turn and river came 2♦Q♥.

dpgj was left with 9.77M but wasn't out yet. The Russian player continued to trade pots with Ricks1687, stacking up as high as 29.3M and dropping as low as 9.18M before three-betting all-in on Hand #64 over the top of Hero239's opening raise. Hero239 held J♠J♣, which held up against Q♦T♦ on a board of 5♠K♠7♦K♣9♦ to eliminate dpgj in 3rd place ($9,092.31).

Despite the imbalance throughout the final table, Hero239 was still just one lost pot away from giving up the chip lead as heads-up play began:

That hand never came, though. Ricks1687 did manage to win one 19.7M-chip pot on the second hand of heads-up, but otherwise the match belonged to Hero239. Hand #75 would be the last of the final table when both players picked up strong hands:

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With that the tournament came to an end just six and a half hours after it began. For finishing in second place Ricks1687 took the previously agreed upon share of the deal worth $8,299. As the winner, Hero239 claimed the extra $1,000 on the table for a total prize of $12,614.56. That topped the Russian player's previous best by nearly $10,500, and at much lest cost, too - that tournament cost $215 compared to the minimum investment of $2.20 in this one.